London, Aug 14 : Immigrants with no right to be in Britain will be deported faster as a new 24-week target on asylum appeal decisions is enforced, the UK Home Office said on Friday.
Starting this week, the First-tier Tribunal will be expected to hear new asylum and immigration appeals from non-detained foreign national offenders (FNOs) and individuals in receipt of asylum support and accommodation within 24 weeks.
This is intended to speed up the removal of those whose asylum appeal is unsuccessful, cutting costs by freeing up space in British taxpayer-funded accommodation and generating savings of an estimated 6.9 billion pounds.
“For too long, asylum and immigration appeals have been plagued by delays, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill while cases drag on for months and sometimes years,” said Anna Turley, UK Minister for Border Security and Asylum.
“This new 24-week target will see cases resolved faster, reduce reliance on taxpayer-funded accommodation and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK,” she said.
According to the latest Home Office estimates from the past year, Indians have the lowest grant rate of just 1 per cent in the UK’s asylum ranking, which is led by nationals of Sudan (93 per cent) and Eritrea (87 per cent).
The new 24-week target will apply to asylum appeal cases submitted to the First-tier Tribunal from August 12. Currently, the average wait time for a case to be decided by a judge is 67 weeks.
As official estimates indicate over 150,000 appeals are still waiting to be heard, the Home Office admitted that wider reform is needed to ensure the system can deal with cases more quickly and “prevent it from becoming a barrier to removal”.
The issue of housing an ever-increasing flow of asylum seekers is among the most serious issues facing the British government, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledging a “fairer” system.
“We are already working to fairly house asylum seekers across the entire country, working closely with local authorities and listening to local concerns to help reduce the impact on communities,” a UK government spokesperson said.
The Labour Party is keen to highlight that the number of asylum seekers staying in British taxpayer-funded hotels has fallen by 35 per cent over the past year, with overall asylum support costs falling by 1 billion pounds since the July 2024 general election.
The government will also close every asylum hotel by the end of this Parliament, with under 170 now in use, down from the peak of 400 in 2023, the Home Office claims.
It pointed to the Immigration and Asylum Bill, currently going through Parliament, which is set to create a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA) to provide a “simpler, faster route for deciding appeals”.
The IIAA will run alongside the First-tier Tribunal for several years and will gradually take on new cases to allow the tribunal to clear the existing backlog as quickly as possible. Independent adjudicators working for the IIAA will be able to prioritise the most urgent cases and those in the public interest, such as high-harm FNOs and dubious human rights claims.
As well as the new target, the government said it is increasing capacity in the appeals system. This year, sitting days are due to increase by 19 per cent in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber compared with 2024 to 2025, so more cases can be heard and decisions made faster.
